Woman and grandson dead in pond

A 71-year-old woman and her six-year-old grandson have been found dead in a pond.

PUBLISHED: 15:25, Fri, Feb 17, 2012

The pond at Holywell village in Lincolnshire where a 71-year-old woman and her six-year-old grandson [PA]

A 71-year-old woman and her six-year-old grandson have been found dead in a pond.

The discoveries followed a search on land and by RAF helicopter at Holywell village, near Castle Bytham, Lincolnshire.

The alarm was raised by the boy's mother after he went to stay with her mother and did not return home.

Police said that after the call from the boy's mother at 9.20pm on Thursday, they went to the elderly woman's address in Castle Bytham. No-one was there and a search began for the missing pair and the grandmother's car.

The boy had gone to spend Wednesday night with her and they were due to return home on Thursday evening.

At about 10.45pm officers found the car close to a duck pond in Holywell village near Castle Bytham. Soon afterwards the body of a woman, thought to be in her 70s, was recovered from the pond. Despite efforts to resuscitate her she was certified dead at the scene.

The search continued into the night for the boy and just before 4am Lincolnshire Police underwater search unit officers recovered the body of a child from the pond.

Formal identifications will not be concluded until Monday. A spokeswoman for Lincolnshire Police said initial investigations suggested there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident.

The pensioner's cleaner Hilary Barnsdale, 59, described her "great friend" as an "outgoing, bubbly and independent woman."

She said: "She was brilliant person who would do anything for anyone. She was very independent. I wouldn't have guessed she was 71. The news came as a shock to me and her friends in the village. Everybody knew her. She was a good person and a good friend."